STOP OVERDEVELOPMENT IN STRAWBERRY!

IT'S TOO EARLY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW!

PLEASE LISTEN TO THE COMMUNITY!

Dear Marin County Planning Commission and Marin County Board of Supervisors:

We, the undersigned, write this letter to inform you of our united opposition to the County proceeding with the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the current project described in the Notice of Preparation (NOP) and North Coast Land Holding’s (NCLH) application for the project at the former Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary site in Strawberry.

We strongly request:

• The County deny the proposed amendments to the Strawberry Community Plan, Master Plan Amendment, Precise Development Plan, Use Permit, Vesting Tentative Map, and Tree Removal Permit without further EIR (Environmental Impact Report) per CEQA Guideline 15270.
• The Board of Supervisors start the process of revising the Strawberry Community Plan with the participation of the Strawberry community.
• The County proceed with enforcing the current interim uses, as the applicant is apparently using the property in violation of existing entitlements.

These requests are verbatim from the October 2nd 2017 Strawberry Design Review Board (SDRB) meeting.

We also fully endorse and agree with the Seminary Neighborhood Association’s October 9th, 2017 letter written by Riley Hurd appealing the County’s issuance of the NOP commencing environmental review: http://www.seminaryneighbors.com/sna_appeals_eir

There is rapidly escalating and broad-based resistance to the project described in the NOP and there is a consensus that the project is WORSE THAN THE BRANSON proposal, which also had massive opposition. Before this matter becomes contentious, we urge the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors to take the actions requested by the SDRB, Riley Hurd, and as reiterated in this letter.

Change is inevitable for the Seminary site. We understand that reality. Unfortunately, the applicant (NCLH) chose to utterly ignore the Strawberry Community Plan, the community’s concerns, and the community’s visions. The community has visionary ideas for the site including senior housing, affordable housing, and family housing that we believe are aligned with the County’s needs and are environmentally, socially, and politically superior to the current proposal. Now it is time to deny the current application and start the process over with the community participating in a County initiated process to revise the Strawberry Community Plan before prematurly starting the EIR.

Thank you.